*^Souls Conspiracy^*
by Rei-chan
Summary: When you understand that something terrible has happened to you, and you can't help it anymore... (WARNING: This story involves really strong themes! You've been adviced!) Rei+Shinji story!YES! ANOTHER CHAPTER IS ONLINE!!^__^Go to read it^_-
1. WARNING

Before you start to read the prologue of this story I must notice to you that this fiction is REALLY different from the kind of story that I used to write.   
Yeah, in this story you can find sweet scenes between Rei and Shinji (Rei and Shinji rulez!^^), but for the best part, this story involves strong   
themes, like attempted homicide, rape scenes (not explicit, of course), kidnapping, ect.   
So, if you think that those scenes can upset you, do not read this fiction. Otherwise, I won't take any responsability about.   
This is the first Evangelion story that I ever wrote. I started to write this almost two years ago (I was almost 14) and just last month I've finished to write (in italian, of course) the long 18th chapter. Now I've stopped to continue it to let me correct the first chapter that were wrote reeeeeeeally bad (Please, try to understand^_^; It were my first approach to write an Eva fiction^^;) and actually I've finished to correct the third chapter. My friend Marcello finished to translate the prologue here in english, and now I'm looking for someone who can translate the first one.   
Anyway, here it is^_^   
I hope you'll like it, and also if this is the prologue, I really hope that you'll send me your reviews. They're really important for me.   
Bye^^   
Rei-chan   
PS:Many thanks to Douglass Weeks for the correction of this story!^^ 


	2. Chapter 0 (Prologue) - Tadaima, Yui

Souls Conspiracy 

Chapter 0 

Prologue 

"Tadaima, Yui" 

Little lamppost lights were slowly going on in all of Neo-Tokyo-3's streets, as they did every night. It was a little after 7 PM and the most frantic chaos still ruled the streets of Japan's most industrialized city. The massive exodus of the workers of the city going home had already begun, as was the routine every night at the same hour. Traffic lights managed car and pedestrian traffic, but the great chaos in the main streets notwithstanding, there still were some suburban districts where the passing of cars and pedestrians was still looked upon as an unusual view; one of those districts was the one where Rei Ayanami lived in complete loneliness… 

In Rei's flat darkness appeared to have fallen before its time. Windows were closed, and so was the entrance door and the one on the balcony. Even the construction workers who were demolishing the buildings next to hers had ceased their activity early that evening, and this only added to the eerie silence that ruled the blue-haired girl's flat. Anyone there at the moment would have first thought it uninhabited, but its tenant was there… 

Rei Ayanami was curled on the bed, around her a light white sheet, that she nervously grasped at one end. Her eyes were closed, but she wasn't asleep; she hadn't been able to fall asleep…   
She knew that it was going to happen any moment now, and she couldn't chase the thought away… 

She released her grip on the sheet, and slowly turned on her side, while she was experiencing, stronger than ever, a feeling of terror and anxiety that we all know by the name of fear. She was now aware of all this, but she couldn't do anything to prevent it from happening again…   
Anything… 

She closed her eyes a little further when she heard a sudden creaking noise coming from the front door, and a while later a loud bang caused by its closing.   
Someone had gotten inside. And she knew who that someone was, without having to ask anything. After all she was waiting for him, and that was the reason why she had been able to make it home early…   
Slow and heavy footsteps were becoming more and more audible, and realizing this she felt a shiver going up her back. Why was all this happening ? It had already happened in the past, but she'd never felt so scared before. And all this only because she had understood… 

Suddenly, the footsteps stopped, meaning that the person who had entered had arrived to his destination. Falteringly, she tried to open her red eyes, and look at the man who was standing a few steps from her. Rei's look was of hopelessness, even if she didn't know how she felt inside… she was experiencing many, mixed feelings, of which she didn't even know the name… 

"Tadaima, Yui...." * Silence was broken by the grave and soft voice of the one who'd entered. In answer to those words, a silent tear went down the girl's face, and she closed again her eyes, hopeless. She sighed, and her breathing became labored. It was going to happen again, and she couldn't help it… 

End of Chapter 0   
  
  


(*) "Tadaima" is what the Japanese say when entering their own house. It could be liberally translated as "I'm home", but it's impossible to render a precise translation, because, for the Japanese, it's a special greeting to one's family when entering one's house.   
  
  



	3. Chapter 1 - A pair of glasses wet with t...

Souls Conspiracy 

Chapter 1 

-A pair of glasses wet with tears- 

Rays of sunlight were happily shining on the city of NeoTokyo-3. It was the month of April. 

Even with the intensification of the month's great heat by the aftermath of Second Impact. The students of the first middle school of Neo Tokyo-3 didn't look annoyed by this strange atmospherical phenomenon; after all, since they were born, this was the world as they had known it, and living in a world without cold winters didn't annoy them that much; let's even say it didn't annoy them at all. 

So, during recess, all boys were having fun loitering in the yard, laughing, joking, and of course gossiping about their classmates and teachers. 

That day looked so similar to many others, but soon it was going to become a very unusual one... 

"Hey, Shinji! Do you have any idea of what's up the next hour ?? Mmmmmm?" shouted Touji, nudging him, between a bite he took off a sandwich and a sip of Coke. 

"Eh?" Shinji looked almost surprised at Touji's voice. After all, it wasn't hard to see what the boy meant, from the look of his face and his provocative tone of voice. But Shinji was obviously too absorbed by other thoughts to play his friend's game, and so his look appeared, at first, confused. 

In his place, it was Kensuke who answered, Touji's faithful supporter; who, being on shared his friend's enthusiasm, taking a small videorecorder out of his bag. 

"Ghh... right! I've been waiting all week for the swimming class, I've already reloaded both my videorecorder and my camera, be sure we are not going to miss any of those dolls in swim suits!" 

Touji and Kensuke hi-fived each other, maniacally grinning, pleased with their plan of filming their female classmates during the swimming lesson. 

"Oh Kensuke, you really are a pig, aren't you?" Touji added jokingly, still keeping his maniac stare. 

"That was Mr. Hentai speaking!" Kensuke quickly responded, winking his eye at Touji. 

The two boys kept on happily joking with each other, laughing like lunatics at the least innuendo about their classmates' gorgeous bodies, but Ikari was completely outside of all this. 

The boy was absorbed by his thoughts, and wasn't giving any notice to anything his friends were saying. Though, his gaze was fixed on a group of girls from his class who were in front of him, chatting. *She's not out yet...* he thought, while his gazed appeared o be looking for something specific... 

Touji and Kensuke were surprised from their classmate's silence, he looked completely ignorant for their exchange. They were about to tell him something, when they abruptly realized that, actually, their classmate's gaze was fixed on their nearby, and, misunderstanding everything, they interpreted what they were looking at in their own way. 

"I see you're thinking like us, aren't you, Ikari?" Touji said nudging the boy at his side. 

"I always said that behind Ikari's innocent look there's a first class pig!" Kensuke went on playfully, suddenly realizing that Shinji wasn't looking at the round forms of the girls he was staring at, but looked as if his gaze was lost in emptiness. 

"Hey! Shinji! What's the matter?" the four-eyed boy said while he was moving his hand in front of his friend's eyes, putting on a confused look. 

At last, Shinji came out of his train of thought, and answered to the words of his two friends "HAI ?????" he yelled like a pupil who's not paying attention and is taken by surprise by a teacher. 

"What's on your mind today ? Who are you staring at among our classmates ? At last, our great Evangelion pilot has discovered the existence of the opposite sex, hasn't he ?" 

Touji went on, while, mimicking Ikari's attitude, was trying to have a look at the boy's "object of desire". 

The Third Child wasn't unmoved by the words uttered by Touji and Kensuke, so his face didn't waste any time in changing color because of the embarassing situation: "N...no, I was looking there by accident..." He mumbled, timidly trying to justify his actions. 

But they had him by now. When those two kids had something in their minds, it was really hard to make them change their opinion and correct the situation. Especially when it was about their little lord, to embarass Shinji, jokingly of course, was their favorite pasttime ! 

"Oh yeah, really! Come on, tell the truth! I bet you're wondering why "your" Ayanami hasn't come out yet, aren't you ?" Kensuke said. 

Shinji had been hit in his soft spot. It was incredible, the way his two friends had been able to read his mind; and that only added to his embarassment, while his face was changing color, from red to almost purple! "N..no!! It's not so! I wasn't thinking of..." 

"Come on, come on! You don't have to give us excuses! We'll take pictures and we'll film her too, are you happy with that ??" Touji didn't even let the boy end his explanation, when he put his arm around the boy's shoulder, pulling him towards himself. 

"But... But I...!!!" Yet again the boy was interrupted, this time by Kensuke, who swiftly took Touji's lead. "Whom do you think you're fooling, my friend! It shows from a mile away that you like Rei Ayanami ! You spend all day staring at her!" He said, winking at him. 

Shinji was at the end of his rope, and couldn't stand anymore the salacious remarks of his two friends; with a small forward leap, he came down from the low wall where he was sitting with his two "attackers", and answered them. 

"NOW STOP IT!! All I and Ayanami share is the task of piloting the Evangelions, nothing else!" He couldn't tell why himself, but he wasn't able to say these words with the determination he would have liked to show. Actually, his voice sounded unsure and unwilling. Why? Maybe this statement didn't match reality ? 

"Who knows! Maybe, but I'm sorry to disappoint you, if you hope to see Ayanami today in a swimming suit, you're really off mark. This morning, I saw the head pupil hand the teacher a NERV statement, according to which Ayanami couldn't take swimming classes for a while..." Kensuke said, assuming a know-it-all air, while crossing his legs. 

"What?" Shinji couldn't hide his surprise when he heard those words." Why the hell should NERV make Ayanami skip swimming lessons ?" 

"Right... oh yeah. You're sorry, aren't you? Come on, admit it!" The boy went on, while adjusting his glasses on his nose, and picking on Shinj's patience. 

Suzuhara was as confused as Shinj when he heard the news Kensuke had just shared. 

"SAY WHAT?? And why did they do that???" 

Kensuke shrugged "Dunno. Maybe she's got her period." 

Touji came down from the wall, and put his hand on Shinji's shoulder, ironically showing all his regret. "I'm so sorry, my friend... I know you were looking forward to admiring Ayanami in swimming suit... alas.. but don't you worry, when classes are over Uncle Touji will take you to a little shop where they sell special magazines ..." Touji didn't complete the sentence, because his perverted look was enough to make it clear what kind of magazines he meant. Touji's idea appealed to Kensuke apparently, but certainly not to Shinji, who was quickly looking for an excuse to get away. 

"S... sorry, but I have to go... in the classroom, we have English in the next hour, and I still have to complete my homework!!..." Shinj said, fleeing toward the school gate. 

"HEY!! DON'T FORGET TO COPY THE EXERCISES IN MY WORK BOOK!!" Touji stopped flapping his arms as soon as he heard Shinji's assent, which he yelled without stopping. Immediately, though, his look ceased to be hilarious, as if he had suddenly remembered something serious. 

"Hai... Touji, my friend, I really think that guy's in love..." Kensuke said after having made sure that Shinji was far enough not to hear them. 

"Right", his friend answered, taking his gaze away from the boy, who had almost reached the school gate. "Actually, he's the first boy to show some interest in Rei... I mean, keeps showing it..." 

Kensuke nodded "True, true. After all, Ayanami is not one who goes unnoticed... do you remember the day when she first came to the school? She raised everybody's interest..." 

"Yes, but when we realized how morose and taciturn her character was, we kept away from her. No one did anything but avoid her..." 

Touji continued Kensuke's thoughts "Actually, she seems to have an aura of sadness and loneliness... that's too bad. This way, all her beauty will go to waste..." he mumbled, disappointment in his voice, while he slowly crossed his arms. "Besides, since she got transferred here, I've never seen her with someone else, here at the school... she doesn't seem to have made friends with anybody..." 

"Maybe, getting to know her better... after all, among all of us, Shinj is the one who spends the most time with her... well.. we only see her at school, while he..." Touji confusedly tried to explain his ideas about the issue.   
Truth was that, after all, he wasn't able to consider Rei as an emotionless being, as often other classmates called her, when gossiping... 

"After all, we never made any effort to try and understand her feelings. I must admit we've all been a little selfish..." Kensuke lowered his head, an unusual gesture for him, while he uttered those words. He looked sad and sorry, it was obvious all he'd said was true. And this truth hurt them, too... 

"Who cares! Anyway, now Shinji's there with her. So, it's no use crying over spilt milk, my friend." Touji said in high-pitched voice, erasing the sad atmosphere that had been borne from their thoughts about the blue haired girl. Kensuke understood his classmate's thought, and smiling, came down from the wall he was sitting on. 

"You're right. But now, we better go change our clothes if we really want to take pictures of those babes in swim suits!" 

Touji didn't let his friend repeat himself, and after winking again at him, he ran with Kensuke toward the school's gate. Meanwhile, Shinj still felt unsure and embarrassed because of Kensuke's words. 

*Damn!. .. it necessary for them to tease me every time they get the chance ?...* The boy thought, helpless. But Kensuke's and Touji's words had had a strange effect on him. 

Maybe, if they'd been talking about some other girl, he wouldn't have felt so embarrassed... 

Who knows why every time they talked about Ayanami, his heart began to beat one   
thousand times a minute, and his complexion changed into a ripe tomato's. He couldn't give himself a reason why. He sighed, while slowly slid open the door to his class slide on its rail. But at the moment the door opened, something struck his attention: the classroom, unlike what he was expecting, was completely empty. 

"What?..." the boy, still dazed and confused, went forward, at first leaning to better see around, then slowly taking a few cautious steps inwards. He wasn't finished   
looking around yet, when he suddenly noticed something unusual on the floor between the desks in the back row, and while he was approaching to examine it, he was surprised to find what he had been looking for since he had entered the classroom: Rei Ayanami.   
  
"Ayan..." Shinji stopped suddenly, when he realized the girl seemed to be laying on the classroom floor, unconscious. The Third Child's look abruptly changed into one of great fear, and so, putting aside the very personal feelings he had for her, he shoved aside the row of desks that were in his way and reached her side 

"AYANAMI!!!" The boy's shout echoed all over the empty classroom, and perhaps reached even the lobby, like lighting from a clear sky, 

Shinji, once he was on his knees next to her, hurried to take her in his arms and put her on his knees, trying to stay calm and check her condition, before panic could completely envelope him. 

"Ayanami!!" Rei's face was whiter than snow, and her eyes gave no sign of opening, not even at the warm touch of the boy's hands; but luckily, the labored breathing that came from the girl confirmed to the boy that she was alive. Shinji tried to take heart from this   
detail; who knows why, in such situations he always thought about the worst... 

"Hey! Ayanami, come on, wake up!" Shinji's alarmed voice grew more urgent, while he swiftly stroked the girl's shoulder to revive her. And he did. 

"Mmmm..." Rei reacted almost immediately to those motions, and to Shinj's great joy, with apparent effort she opened her intense red eyes. Eyes where it was possible to observe the immense physical and psychological weakness in that moment... 

"I... don't... want... don't" Those were the very first words utterd from Rei's lips, still dazed and confused. But as soon as she focused the silhouette in front of her, who was cradling her in his arms, she stopped talking, and her looked became one of surprise. "Ik..Ikari-kun...!" 

Hearing his name, Shinji sighed out of relief, and on his face appeared a spontaneous smile of gratitude. But he certainly didn't give any thought to the words that Rei had uttered in a state of confusion... 

"Ayanami! What's the matter?? Are you sick??" Ikari-kun, even though he had resuscitated the girl, couldn't stop worrying about her. If she had fainted, there surely was a reason.. 

Rei put her hand to her head, while she tried hard to recall the last events around her. "Did I... faint?" She asked with a confused tone. 

Shinji nodded, while he kept supporting her on her feet, an arm around her shoulders. Rei looked so frail and helpless... she obviously wasn't feeling well at all. 

It was the second time he took her in his arms in a time of need; the first time was when he had just arrived to NeoTokyo-3, that time too, she wasn't feeling well. And that time too... he had her in his arms. 

This detail made Shinji blush, from the embarrassment at thinking how their classmates would have reacted, in finding them in that position. Especially Touji and Kensuke, who would have found evidence of what they suspected. 

"Ehm...come on, sit here..." Slowly, Shinji helped her get up from the floor, putting her delicately on the first chair available. He couldn't help but notice the efforts she was making to get up, and this added to his worry. Why was he worrying so much about her?   
After a few seconds pause, interspersed by Rei's silence and labored breathing, the boy, seeing that things weren't improving, took a decision. 

"We better go to the infirmary, let me help you..." he mumbled, taking Rei's arm and putting it around his neck, for support.   
But at those words, something seemed to click in Rei, that made her object to Shinj's idea. 

"No... it isn't necess..." She wasn't able to complete the sentence, because a sudden rumble came from her stomach to her and Ikari's ears. 

Shinj had already prepared an answer to persuade her to be taken to the infirmary, when he had to swallow it, because something unexpected had happened... 

"But this is hunger!" Shinji went back on his steps, and again he helped the girl sit on the same chair. "Haven't you had anything to eat, today?" 

"No..." Was Rei's coincise answer, that expressed an unusual guilty feeling "... I haven't eaten or slept since yesterday, I feel queasy..." 

Shinji looked almost offended at those words. It was unconceivable! Why should Rei go a whole day without sleep and food?? Now he could clearly see why she'd fainted. The whole situation was, to say the least, unbearable. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard. 

"What?? And why?!?!?" Shinji couldn't hide his astonishment, and his voice had involuntarily reached a high pitch, unlike Rei's, that didn't change a bit, both beacuse she couldn't gather the necessary strength, and because it wasn't her way to do such a thing... 

"I've been... very busy, and just haven't had the time to eat and sleep..." The blue-haired girl's voice almost seemed unwilling to betray the truth hidden behind her words. She took her eyes off the boy, pointing them to the left, to keep them from crossing Shinji's. 

"You didn't have time to... eat and to sleep???" Shinji couldn't buy it. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed unbelievable. How could Rei not have had time enough to fulfill such primary needs? 

"NERV business?" 

Rei thought about it for a moment, before speaking, and from her look it was easy to see that she found it difficult to give an answer. "Yes... let's say so..." 

Shinji didn't pay much attention to Rei's answer, he knew she wasn't very talkative, and she hated it when people intruded on her private life. So he didn't ask her anything else, but just took a bentou with his lunch from his bag, which was on desk close to him. After that, he went to Ayanami again and offered it to her, saying: 

"Dozoo, here's mine. I hope you like springrolls..." Shinji smiled while he waited for the girl to get his lunch from his hands. He liked to help her and to be kind toward her. After all, he perfectly knew that Rei couldn't love that much her lonely moments. 

He was in her same condition, after all... 

Rei took her gaze away from the emptiness where it was lost, and turned to face Shinji, visibly surprised. Her look was so sweet and innocent, that Shinji couldn't hold back a shy smile that was surfacing on his lips. 

"Dozoo! Take it! I'm happily giving it to you, come on! I've already had lunch..." Of course, this was a lie; Shinj had not eaten anything, but he sure wasn't in Rei's condition. He'd had a hearty breakfast at home before going to school, so he wasn't really starving. 

Rei, after a few moments' pause, took in her hand the small lunchbox, stuttering a very shy "Th.. thank you...Ikari". 

Once again, Sjinji answered with a smile. Such were the little things in his life that made him happy. 

It was the first time that Shinji had given something to Rei: he felt different, his heart was   
beating one thousand times a minute. But something broke the magic of that moment: there was something strange in Rei. The girl's gaze looked somehow different, there was an added shade of sadness. And it wasn't only the quesiness she'd felt a while ago... 

Of course, Rei sure isn't a joyful and talkative girl; her silhouette is constantly shrouded in a thick halo of mystery, but that day a little more sadness was clearly visible in her eyes: she looked on the verge of tears, and was more pale than usual. 

"A...Ayanami...your eyes shine...is there something wrong?" 

Rei shook her head, as if she had been fearing such a question from the boy. "No... it's all right..." She went on opening the lunchbox. "It's... all right..." 

"AAAAAAH!!! Here you are!!!! " To suddenly break the sweet and sour atmosphere that had been created inside the classroom, Touji and Kensuke, coming back to the classroom and catching their classmate red-handed, didn't waste any time in pointing at him and accusing him of being with his "chick". 

"To...Touji!! Kensuke!!" Unlike Rei, who just turned and watched the boys without really   
paying attention, Shinji couldn't hide his embarrassment and shame. And he was perfectly right. 

Kensuke quickly grabbed Shinji's shoulders from behind, as if he were a koala. "That's it, master!! That's why you fled so quickly a little ago, didn't you??" 

"Aaah!! But... but... but what are you talking about, Kensuke!!" The boy answered trying to break free. But it wasn't easy for him, since Touji had intervened to make matters worse. 

"Sure, sure!... When you can't take it anymore you just flee, don't you??" The boy jokingly said, stroking Shinj's hair with one hand. " Tell the truth, what were you guys been doing before we came in??" He went on, amusing himself in teasing the Third Child. 

"But it isn't so!!!" Shinji's complexion went purple again, especially because this time Rei was there, who was observing the scene, confused. But, luckily for him, the two brats began to behave, admitting they'd already tortured Shinj enough for the day. So Touji, patting Shinji's shoulder, explained the reason why they's come back into the classroom. 

"You better hurry and go change your clothes! The P.E. teacher says you're the only one missing, and if you're late again you're going to get a note!" 

Shinji looked unwilling to leave again Rei alone, and his friends didn't get it, and seeing that their friend was hesitating, they were about to take him under his arms on both sides and drag him outside. 

"No!! Wait!! LET ME GO!!" Shinj's cries couldn't change his classmates' minds, so, after a few secs, the boy found himself, willy-nilly, outside the classroom. Leaving Rei once again into the arms of loneliness... 

Silence ruled the room again. Rei sighed and helplessly lowered her head, while using one hand to take, slowly, the two bamboo sticks inside Shinji's bentou. Her look was thoughtful... as if she'd been reflecting for a moment... 

"To flee..." The girl repeated with almost unperceivable voice the words that Kensuke had just told Shinji "...when you can't take it... anymore..." 

End of Chapter 1   
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

~*~ Note: the bentou is the typical lunch-box, divided in compartments, that the Japanese use (in the anime, they're usually tied up in cloth), and that vary in form and dimension. Some are really similar to our metal containers for stationery (the long-shaped boxes) but with a lot more room. 

~*~ Usually, for Japanese boys trading a bentou with, or preparing it for another boy/girls is a way to show him/her their special feelings . For young people seeing each other, this is one of the most romantic things they could think of ^_^; that's why Shinji is so embarrassed when Kensuke and Touji come into the classroom and see him having lunch with Rei ^_^; 

~*~ Many thanks to Marcello Clarizia for the translation of this chapter. Many thanks also to Alvin Au and Jason Carter for the correction of it!^_^ THANKS!! ^.^ 

~*~ If you wanna ask me something, please email me to reichan@inwind.it or visit my website http://members.tripod.it/aoitears 

~*~ DO NOT FORGET TO REVIEW!!!!!   
  



	4. Chapter 2- Okaerinasai, Shinji!

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER HASN'T BEEN FIXED BY AN AMERICAN. So, if you would notify me the errors and the choppiness, please , email me: reichan@inwind.it   
I would be glad:) 

**************   
Souls Conspiracy   


Chapter 2 

Okaerinasai, Shinji! 

"Ugh...what an awful day today..."Shinji Ikari snorted, annoyed, while he   
walked along a long, lonely road on the outskirts which would quickly lead   
him to the home of his guardian.   
.   
The sun was setting and with it also another extremely boring day at school.   
From the lolling gait of the boy you could see that he had used up all his   
energy that day, even if the hands of his watch only showed five o'clock   
and the cicadas continue to croak non-stop. 

In short, that day seemed to want never to finish. 

The boy kicked a pebble that was on the pavement and stopped a second to   
take a deep breath. The teachers' voices still resounded in his mind like a   
jack hammer, thanks to the sky at least that day no Eva01 synchronisation   
test had been planned, otherwise he would really have had to be scooped up   
with a spoon at the end of the day. He was really at his limit. 

His efforts were, however, rewarded when he realised he had finally reached   
his destination: Major Misato Katsuragi's house. The woman who since the   
first day he had arrived in Tokyo had taken him into her home together with   
Asuka Soryuu Langley, a German girl, also an Evangelion pilot, who some   
months ago had returned to her own country for a short while. 

A smile appeared on Shinji's face while he slowly climbed the stairs. He   
felt that atmosphere, which until recently had made him feel ill at ease,   
more familiar than ever. He had arrived home. Yes, because that was his home   
now and he knew for sure that even if she was not his mother or his father,   
when she had taken him in, he knew he had found somebody who really loved   
him. And he was happy about that. He had succeeded in his intention, i.e. to   
get himself loved. 

Basically it had not been as difficult as it had seemed initially. 

After opening the automatic lock of the door with his smart card, the   
exhausted Third Children entered the house but obviously not without first   
taking off his shoes as was the rule. 

A rule which his guardian did not normally seem to respect, judging from the   
footprints on the hall floor. 

"Aaaagh!! I'd washed the floor before going to school!" he murmured to   
himself, seeing the pitiful condition to which the floor had been reduced   
and which got worse as he gradually walked along the passage 

"OKAERINASAIIII*!!! "The happy cheerful voice of Misato hit the boy's   
back unexpectedly like a flash of lightning in a peaceful sky, causing the   
boy's heart to miss a beat from the shock. 

"Mi..Mi..MISATO-SAN! I nearly had a heart attack!!" Shinji shouted confused   
while he instinctively rested his hand on his heart, which, because of the   
shock, had started to beat at a thousand an hour. But anyway, there was   
nothing to be surprised about; anything could be expected from his guardian.   
and he had understood this from the first day he had gone to live with her   
^^; 

" And..*hic*..why ever, Shinchan?..*hic*...Are you frightened...*hic*...of   
your   
Mithato?...*hic*" From the strangled sobs which interrupted the girl's   
unusual dialogue, from her purple expression, but above all, from the open   
can of beer she held in one hand, Shinji guessed that for the nth time,   
Misato had raised her elbow a little too much, as was her wont. 

The boy hardly had time to give a disconsolate sigh when suddenly for an   
unknown reason his guardian had the 'splendid' idea of pulling him to her   
and hugging him as if he was her favourite toy. 

"Shinji-kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun...*hic* Come here!! *hic* I am tho happy that   
you..*hic*.. have finally come home*hic*!!" These were her confused words   
before she put an arm round Shinji's neck and ruffled his hair with the   
other. 

"Arghh..Miss Misato, stop it. Pleeeease!! " 

Major Katsuragi probably did not even realise, but Shinji could not fail to   
notice the very embarrassing position in he had finally ended up. His face   
was almost completely buried between the girl's breasts and this detail   
particularly agitated him. Misata was not a beautiful, but an extremely   
beautiful, woman. Her body was, to say the least, outstanding and its   
fascination would have proved irresistible to any man who had been in his   
position. 

"Don't be like so ..*hic*...offhand, Shin-chaaaaaaan..*hic*...I love you a   
lot thee !!" Misato hugged the poor Shinji, who for the nth time that day   
was blushing furiously in the face of such a provocation, even more to her   
breasts. 

If Touji or Kensuke just knew about such a thing they would have gone mad   
with rage and envy with him, but for him . well, it was nothing to boast   
about, as Misato had always appeared in his life as a point of reference   
which somehow managed to fill the gap left by his parents. 

Notwithstanding all the many attempts by Shinji, who continued to wriggle,   
trying to free himself from the hug that held him prisoner, Misato continued   
to ruffle his hair, guffawing and weeping. 

The woman took another gulp of beer from the can "UUUUUUUuuuuuugh...*hic* In   
short! Alwayth..*hic*..the uthual..*hic* thpoilthport!!..*hic*... I show   
you my affection..*hic*tho, I give you tho many cuddleth and you don't know   
how to appreciate them...bathtard!bathtard!bathtard!!" 

Yes...for poor Shinji this was really a VERY hard day. 

Seeing her efforts to succeed in continuing with the situation, Shinji   
decided to use a different method, hoping that at least this would manage to   
get some lucidity for the girl. 

A large bead of sweat appeared on Shinji's head, whereas from the expression   
which appeared on his face it was clear that he was doing his utmost to put   
up with his drunken guardian "Uuuhm...Miss Misato...It's almost time for   
supper now, and I really am rather hungry.." 

Shinji's words were not just an excuse to get free of Misato's attentions,   
it was the truth. Now it was he who was hungry! But anyway, the situation   
seemed to return to normal when Misato stopped laughing loudly and weeping;   
acting confused she looked at the clock on the wall. 

"Ugh? Hungry?? But...it's hardly five in the evening!" The girl seemed   
surprised at first, but at least this surprise helped her regain her lost   
lucidity "It's strange for you to be hungry at this time...today I had   
prepared you a bentou filled with good things! There were also spring   
roulades which you like so much! Even Ritsuko helped me make them!" 

The mental image of Misato and Ritsuko preparing the dinner appeared in the   
boy's mind, blocking any ability at imagination. 

The Third Children was really in trouble: What would he do to explain that   
in the end he had made Misato's dinner? 

"Um...I wasn't really hungry and so ...well...here I am..." Shinji did not   
know whether to tell the truth: If Misato knew that he had given his bentou   
to Rei, Misato would not only have started to make her usual ironic   
comments but in a short time her voice would have spread all over the Nerv. 

Shinji laughed loudly trying not to show his difficulty in replying. 

"Eheheeh...here I am..." the boy just did not know what to think up to be   
able to solve the matter . He had never been good at lying, but this time he   
did not even manage to invent a decent excuse which would have succeeded in   
keeping the situation under control. 

"Yes?..." Misato however seemed anything but bent on closing an eye to the   
matter. Not just because of the dinner but more than anything out of   
curiosity; She knew that when Shinji assumed this attitude there was   
something strange and even funny too behind it.   
"Well... I...did not...." 

The telephone suddenly rang and to Shinji's good fortune this succeeded in   
distracting Misato's attention away from him. 

"The telephone's ringing!! COMING !!!" Misato ran to the telephone with the   
enthusiasm of a child, even reluctantly throwing the still half-full can of   
beer into the air which emptied itself onto the floor completely. 

"SQUEAK!! SQUEAK!! SQUEAK!!!" It was PenPen, Misato's tame penguin who   
completed the scene. As soon as he saw the beer stains left on the floor by   
his mistress he pounced on them flapping his wings and licking them up as if   
they were the most delicious thing in the world. 

Seeing the scene, , Shinji initially remained quiet, but suddenly after   
gaining his composure and squotendo la testa he bent down to the penguin   
with the heat sources. 

"Now I understand why you and Misato get on so well, PenPen!", he exclaimed   
jokingly stroking the penguin's scaly feathers. A scene like this was   
everyday to him. 

"Helloooooo?? Who is it'??" Misato asked in a mellifluous voice raising the   
telephone receiver to her ear. Immediately afterwards, however, her   
expression became dry as if the caller was not whom she had expected.   
"Sgrunt! But it's you, Ritsuuuuuuuko?!?!" 

At the base the scientist smiled as soon as she sensed this change in her   
friend's tone of voice "Are you upset? Who did you expect it to be?" the   
woman jokingly retorted. 

"But what do I know about it??...I thought it was some secret admirer of   
mine!!" Misato continued disappointedly, resting one hand under her chin and   
snorting. 

"A secret admirer???" Ritsuko almost felt like laughing "You've gone over   
the top with the beer again today, haven't you? " 

"Uuuuhm...but today's my day off! So every now and again I can allow myself   
this little diversion, can't I?" Major Katsuragi justified herself, while   
a bead of sweat appeared on her forehead. 

Ritsuko sighed; To be truthful she would have been surprised if she had   
found   
Misato sober on her day off. 

"Ok, Ok...I'll stop the small talk. I haven't rung you up to talk about   
that..." Ritsuko's voice suddenly took on a serious tone and this sigh was   
enough for the girl with the black streaked hair to understand that what Dr.   
Akagi was about to tell her was not nice. 

"....what's it about?" Even Misato's tone changed radically and this change   
even distracted Shinji, who suddenly stopped drying the spilt beer from the   
floor and almost without warning began to listen to Misato's telephone   
conversation. 

"What??..Rei?... What do you mean, she still hasn't arrived?" 

Misato's agitation on the telephone was clear. Notwithstanding that she knew   
how to maintain an incredible sang froid during battles, the girl easily   
allowed herself to be dragged along by anxiety and worry in her private   
life; but notwithstanding the alarming news, she tried to keep calm and not   
rush to conclusions. 

"...I understand...well, probably she's still at school....but Shinji has   
also just arrived..." 

Shinji moved closer to the door which separated the kitchen from the passage   
to listen better to Misato's discussion which somehow was also affecting   
him. 

He did not know why he was doing it, moreover it was not his style to   
eavesdrop on other people's conversations. 

But somehow he felt that that discussion was of interest to him. 

Misato continued with the conversation almost without a halt, her tone   
becoming ever more hard and authoritarian, but hers was an apparent calm. 

"Whatever, make sure that the situation is reported to Commander Ikari.   
O.K..... In case there's any news, let me know, O.K.? We'll be in touch.   
Bye, Ritsuko." 

Major Katsuragi thus finished the discussion. She put back the receiver but   
could not remove her hand because she was immediately overwhelmed by an   
avalanche of thoughts and concerns. 

*It's very strange...a simple delay isn't like her...* This thought flew   
through the Major's mind as silence again took control of her... 

Of course, perhaps it was a little early to think the worst... but faced   
with a situation like this, she really did not know how to react. 

"Has something happened to Rei?!" Shinji's sudden question quickly reached   
Major Katsuragi's ears. She had been so engrossed in Ritsuko's telephone   
that she did not even realise Shinji had been behind her the whole time. 

She slowly turned round trying to erase the signs of worry from her face so   
as not to influence Shinji too, so, trying to assume a happy expression she   
turned to the boy "Hey! Since when did you start eavesdropping?" 

But Misato's words did not convince Shinji at all. Having listened to most   
of the call, he was well aware that there was very little to joke about. 

"Miss Misato...has something happened to Rei?" Without changing expression,   
Shinji again turned to his guardian repeating the same question as before. 

*Damn it...* Misato put an end to her feigned ironic behaviour and looked   
reality in the face; Shinji had already understood the situation. 

"...it's a bit early to think the worst, basically it's a slight delay   
but..." The girl seemed to be measuring out each individual word which   
issued from her lips..Damnn, how would she manage to explain the truth to   
Shinji without influencing him too much with the individual words??. It was   
really hard. 

She knew how apprehensive Shinji was and she also knew that news like this   
would worry him for days on end. 

"Well..." Misato cut short and attempted to smile to ease the weight of the   
truth. "It would appear that Rei has still not turned up at the base, but   
basically no." 

"WHAAAAAT!!!!" But Misato's forced smile was not enough to reassure Shinji:   
So he abruptly interrupted his guardian's forced sentence because her last   
words had the completely opposite result to the one she had hoped for. But,   
anyway, the girl had more than anticipated this reaction. So, without her   
answer giving ground, the Major put her hands out and continued her sentence 

"But look, there is nothing to worry about! You have only just come hack,   
haven't you?...even if she has had an accident..." Misato would have liked   
to have reinsured even herself with these words, but she did not know that   
the words which Shinji was about to say would completely dash her hopes from   
one moment to the other. 

"Rei left school today after playtime to go to the base!!" 

Shinji's panic-filled exclamation spread throughout the room, hitting Major   
Katsuragi full-on, who remained motionless in the face of such truth.   
Playtime was three hours ago. 

Just this thought was enough to cause the anxiety between the two to increas   
e. 

"Wh, what.??" Misato could hardly speak. It was clear to her too that if Rei   
was that late, something must have happened to her and it was to big a delay   
to think of something unimportant. 

"But...but are you sure, Shinji???" 

The boy nodded with difficulty, the muscles of his body seemed paralysed. 

Millions of bad thoughts crowded his mind. 

Rei was very weak that day...and if she had felt bad again in the street ? 

He decided to save this detail from his guardian for the time being at   
least; she was already fairly worked up and more news to complicate the   
current situation would seem like an arrow. 

In the end, Misato was responsible for the Children. 

"Accident!" With a sudden jolt the girl managed to recover from the initial   
shock and with a very quick gesture she picked up the telephone receiver and   
dialled the number of the base. "Come on!! Answer!!" The wait on the   
telephone which rang in the void made her even more nervous. She was almost   
about to hurl a torrent of bad language at it when finally somebody answered   
the telephone. 

"Major Misato Katsuragi! Mobilise all the Nerv's search teams to rescue the   
First Children! DO IT IMMEDIATELY!!" 

*   
Some minutes later inside the base, Dr. Akagi, followed by some operators   
ran hurriedly and angrily towards the oval room of Gendo Ikari. In her last   
telephone call Misato had been too upset to explain the details as things   
were exactly, but the fact was that if she had given such an order, there   
must be a very serious reason, and further in-depth explanations were not   
essential get the order carried out. 

Ritsuko knocked on the door and after waiting for permission to enter from   
Commander Ikari, went in, making the other operators go in too. 

Gendo was there, at his usual seat in the classic pose behind the main   
writing desk of the immense glass room. His expression did not change even   
when faced with the agitated state of the scientist and the three operators.   
Rather, to tell the truth, he was almost annoyed. 

"Could I know the reason for so much agitation?" Gendo's words, bereft of   
any emotion, crossed the room with a calm which would have caused anybody to   
be anxious. It was really incredible how he did not manage to lose his   
composure in front of anybody. 

Ritsuko was the first to regain her breath and explain the problem to the   
man. 

"Commander Ikari, there is a problem..."Despite her efforts, the scientist   
was unable to imitate the incredible coldness and disinterest which Gendo   
showed at her behaviour. Whoever worked at the Nerv would have to show   
incredible sang froid, but Gendo went beyond the limits of the surreal. 

"A problem is never greater than an attack by an Angel. . And from what it   
appears now there is none of that. Therefore, I can't understand the reason   
for all this agitation." 

Gendo's arrogance did not pass unnoticed by anybody. The three operators   
were offended at the scene and irritated and started to whisper comments   
among themselves, causing a thick veil of murmurs, fortunately nearly all   
imperceptible to the Commander. But Ritsuko when talking could not allow   
such an attitude, so she tried to put up with it all and continued to   
explain the situation, notwithstanding his incredible indifference. 

"The First Children did not arrive at the base at 17.00 hours today as she   
should have done. The security men have no information on the matter." 

If, faced with such news, Gendo had changed attitude and shown a lot more   
interest, Ritsuko would have been ready to put her hand in the fire. Up till   
then, at least, Gendo had shown almost human" sentiments" only for that girl   
who looked like his wife. 

But if he had really done so, then she would have burnt. To her immense   
surprise and that of Maya, Shigeru and even Makoto, the cold commander did   
not rouse himself from his position, not even in the face of that. 

He did not answer. 

Perhaps his expression behind his dark glasses had changed. 

"The reasons?" He restricted himself to just asking this question, almost   
without moving his lips. 

Ritsuko drew an imperceptible breath. The concern made itself felt even in   
her. 

"Not known. Currently not known..." 

Ritsuko had hardly finished her sentence when a sudden silent pause fell   
upon the room. 

An almost impossible silence. 

Nobody would ever have predicted such a reaction from Gendo. So much so that   
the blonde scientist even thought that the only possibility for this silence   
came from fact that Gendo had not properly understood her last words. 

"Commander Ikari?... Did you understand what I said?" Ritsuko was surprised   
at having to recall his attention. Usually in their work discussions jut a   
few words of explanation were enough. Indeed ... it was almost like that in   
private life and she knew it well. "Rei Ayanami has still not reported." 

"Mobilise the Nerv's search teams immediately, from now on all military   
activities will be suspended: Absolute priority to recovering the First   
Children..."After the long silence, during which he was locked in a long   
period of reflection, Gendo sliced through the doctor's words with his rigid   
and authoritarian sentence. 

Ritsuko was not so surprised at that: it was obviously a well thought out   
reply before speaking. 

Therefore, the girl cleared her voice to continue "We also received the same   
orders from Major Katsuragi a short while ago. Only your agreement was   
missing" 

"Well, now you have it. Get a move on!" Gendo's cold words, together with   
the expression covered by the impenetrable dark lenses of his glasses were   
enough to bring to submission the whole group, which hurriedly stood to   
attention and replied with a formal "YES SIR!" shouted in unison. After   
that, they turned on their heels and quickly left the room. Almost running.   
The only exception was Ritsuko, who in contrast to the three operators   
sought to maintain a detached composure until the end, so she was the last   
to leave the oval room, in perfect silence.   
  


End of Chapter 2   
* Okaerinasai is the reply given to TADAIMA, or, "Welcome back (home) !"   
  
~*~Many thanks to Ian for this translation^_^   
~*~If you wanna send me comments or critiques, here's my email address: reichan@inwind.it   
and DO NOT FORGET TO REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love reading your reviews!^-^ well..the third chapter's translation is almost finished, and I'm going to post it soon:) Anyway, I hope you'll like this chapter. As you're seeing, the plot is involving also others characters.   
Please, send me your opinions:)   
bye!  
Rei-chan   
http://members.tripod.it/aoitears 


	5. Chapter 3- The deafening howl of the mur...

Chapter 3 – The deafening howl of the murderous silence-   


12.00 a.m.   
The darkness of night had fallen on the capital of Japan, and from it a new day had been born to replace the one which had just ended. 

In Misato's flat, however, nothing had changed with regard to the previous day…   
The woman was still sitting at the table in a quite, evident state of apprehension and   
nervousness. In her hands she held an empty can of beer, with which she toyed with nervously, trying to get rid of her anxiety. Her gaze had fixed on a cordless telephone in the middle of the table. 

A telephone which, like Shinji's, did not ring… and it was this very silence which caused her anxiety… The silence…   
A silence mixed with the darkness of night.   
Misato still hated dark, silent places. They reminded her of the times in her past when she had failed to destroy as she would have liked …   
The only memories of her adolescence… the image of a little girl with a worn out look and sealed lips…   
The silence of that room where she had been held under observation in perfect solitude…   
Being observed by people who sought only a sign from her, yes, a sign of life which would have undone her vegetative state…   
A sign which appeared only two long years later… years of her life thrown to the wind like the petals of a rose which has not quite withered away… 

She instinctively frowned, immersing herself in that world which she had abandoned for so many years now…   
The voice of silence had worn her out all this time… and there she was, ignorant and powerless in the face of it all.   
She would have liked to have scream, God alone knows how much she would liked to…   
But it was impossible… 

Now the silence seemed to want to enslave her again…   
Weren't two years of her life enough?   
The terrible fragments of the past, linked with the worry due to the absence of Rei were enough to throw the woman into depression's embrace. And so, in an outburst of rage she got up from the seat and hit the table violently with her fist. "THAT'S ENOUGH !!!". 

This exclamation was not just to show that her patience had run out but rather was a way of saying that silence had prevailed long enough in the room.   


Misato's exclamation distracted Shinji from a plate he had been drying incessantly for more than ten minutes; the time had gone by a lot more quickly than his thoughts, and when he had regained lucidity in his movements, he was surprised to find himself with the plate still about his hand… 

He turned to the woman with a questioning and melancholy look. 

"Misato-san…", he murmured in a weak voice. It was rare to see his guardian so worried, but being in the same situation, he understood her behaviour… 

"It's midnight!!" It was only necessary for her to put something together to complete the task!! Anger and worry had now clouded the woman's mind; so much so that she could   
not even manage to moderate her words. However, her thoughts had certainly been quite different with regard to those which she had just uttered. The anger was just an excuse which covered her real state of mind: fear and anguish. 

The Third Children looked at his guardian with melancholy and understanding; he was basically in the same situation as her.   
All he would have liked at that moment was a telephone call; a telephone call telling her that Ayanami had been found… 

It was midnight, and notwithstanding the afternoon of the day before he felt completely destroyed. That evening he knew for certain that he would not get to sleep easily…   
Not before getting news of the girl with the blue hair…   
He looked away from the Major and continued to carefully put the now clean crockery back on the shelves of the cupboard. "And if instead… something has happened to her?" 

He would not have liked to ask something like that, but it was inevitable for Shinji now. The thought that something had happened to Rei was wearing him down…   
The anger slowly vanished from Misato's face. She could no longer pretend…   
"I don't know, Shin-chan…" she murmured in a weak, forced voice, after a long, deep sigh. 

And that was the truth…   
In different circumstances she would have done her utmost not to alarm the boy. She was good at inventing improvised stratagems. Moreover, her work was precisely based on this, but since Shinji had then informed her of the unease which had affected Rei those afternoons she really did not really know how to go on telling lies … 

She tightened her grip even more on the can of beer, almost as if she wanted to screw up the sheets of tin of which it was made. Without easing her grip, which was almost hurting her, she stretched her arms onto the able and rested her head there. She wasn't angry any more, rather her eyes resembled those of a mother anxious because of a tiresome delay by an adolescent daughter…   
"Wherever she is now, I just hope she's all right…" the girl murmured in a weak voice. She imagined the slim figure of Rei. A large city like Neotokyo-3 at night swarms with people ready to take advantage of people's slightest weaknesses; she did not even want to think about what would happen to Rei if she caught the attention of a gang of night-time villains or similar criminals… 

Shinji stopped cleaning up the left-overs in the kitchen from the supper they had eaten some hours previously and slowly approached the table, sitting down beside the pensive major… 

"Misato-san … if something has happened to Rei the blame is mine alone…" Shinji lowered her gaze to the table, while the whole of his sense of guilt could be read in his eyes.   
Misato initially remained stupefied, then slowly moved her arm towards Shinji, embracing the boy's shoulder. "Shinchan … you should not take blame that isn't yours…", she murmured in a low voice, failing to understand the reasons which had pushed the boy to make such a claim.   
  
"But of course it's all my fault!!" Faced with such an explosion of anger, Misato instinctively removed her arm from Shinji's shoulder, almost scared at his reaction. "I shouldn't have allowed Rei to leave school to go to the base alone!! Not after what had happened to her!!" Shinji suddenly turned to Misato while he was saying these words and in doing so tears of rage fell from his eyes, a sign that left his guardian reflecting…   
"Perhaps I should not have caused you all this worry…" Misato closed her eyes for a moment's reconciliation and opened them after some seconds, looking at the clock hanging on the wall. A quarter of an hour had already elapsed since the start of a new day. It had really got very late … 

After some hesitation the girl stood up, resting her hands on the table. "It's better that we both go to bed now, Shin-chan… you have to go to school tomorrow and I have to go to work." She tried to smile when she turned to look at Shinji. "And then… outside there are more than two hundred people looking for her… as you know the Nerv recovery teams always find what they are looking for!" 

"OK…" the boy replied absent-mindedly. He reluctantly got up from the table but did not object to Major Katsuragi's idea. Deep down, he knew that to stay awake would certainly not have helped bring Rei back home… 

The boy slowly left the kitchen, going into the passage which would soon lead him to his room. The woman stayed to furtively watch his movements until the door of the room closed. 

She sighed, after which she brought the can to her lips again, reluctantly drinking the last drops of beer which had now grown warm. "I have always been a disaster in reassuring   
people…", she thought.   
Basically, I haven't even succeeded in reassuring myself… let alone him…" This thought accompanied Misato until even she decided to stop worrying and, turning on her heels, also went to seek refuge insider her room, hoping to be able to at least find a crumb of peace in sleep… 

North-eastern Periphery of NeoTokyo-3, a place somewhat removed from Major Katsuragi's flat. It would have stayed desolate like all other evenings if just an unexpected swirl of wind had not risen over it, thus destroying the quiet of that almost peaceful night in a still virgin atmosphere. Responsible for this occurrence was a large military helicopter which clearly must have chosen that very unusual place as a landing base. Notwithstanding the dark and misleadingly stormy atmosphere, the enormous white writing which covered nearly the whole of the craft was also visible kilometres away: NERV. Whoever read it would not only have known to whom the aircraft belonged, but would, in some way, have known how to take precautions. The immense power of the agency was no longer a secret to anybody any more… 

When the helicopter was sure that its fuselage was on the ground, its propeller slowly dropped speed. The door was opened quickly and from it some ten soldiers from the base hastily emerged, armed with all sorts of equipment. By the way they literally shot out of the aircraft you could sense that that desolate place must be of some immense importance. 

They stooped down to unleash large bloodhounds which in the flash of an eye escaped along the meadow in one single direction, as if until then they had expected nothing else.   
The men slowly switched on electric torches, while one of them, clearly the highest-ranking soldier, took a radio from his accessory-laden belt and put it to his ear. 

"Lieutenant Tetsuya Hiza, Team 18. We have just arrived at the designated site. The dogs have already indicated a direction to follow, so my men and I are only waiting from your agreement to proceed, over." 

From the radio transmitter the voice of the person in contact with the soldier immediately replied to the lieutenant's words. "Roger, Make sure you act without any disturbance and obey Commander Ikari's orders. Keep us up-to-date of any developments. Over." 

"Roger. The teams are ready. Over and out." The lieutenant terminated the connection and returned the radio to its place. With a quick gesture with his face he turned to his troops, who quickly prepared for the action by advancing along the tall grass of the meadow. They lit up everything with their torches, but the barking of the recently released dogs even managed to overcome the deafening noise of the helicopter's propellers which were still revolving. The dogs' barking was a sign to the team, so much so that it even allowed them to locate their position immediately .   
They would not have to go that far…   
About a hundred metres away, the pack of dogs had gathered together in a circle around an old ruin of what seemed to have been a very old country house, now almost completely destroyed. The teams advanced, accelerating their pace, now certain of having found something. The soldiers stopped only when they were a few metres away, leaving their superior officer to advance first, as his rank required. 

With his arms he moved some weeds which prevented movement around the building. Notwithstanding the weeds preventing perfect visibility, the lieutenant's gesture to the other soldiers indicated that they had found just what they were looking for. Quickly the others followed too, covering the short distance that separated them from him. Their expressions did not change even when before them they finally found the object they were looking for… or perhaps it would have been better to say "the person" they were looking for… 

"Rei Ayanami… isn't it?"   


3.00 a.m.   
From the time she had got into bed, Misato had not really managed to close her eyes for a single instant. As predicted, thoughts about the fate of the First Children had not succeeded in freeing her mind so that she could finally collapse into the arms of sleep …   
Since then the girl had done nothing but stare at the ceiling, a gesture which would have been more associated with Shinji than with her. 

She could not explain the reason, but staring at the ceiling somehow succeeded in distracting her thoughts.   
Night was a good counsellor…   
Suddently she decided to change position and slowly turned over on her   
futon, allowing her hands to sink into the soft satin pillow beneath her head. She stretched her hand towards the alarm clock by the bed and brought it closer to her ears, seeking to see the hands despite the darkness… 

She sighed bitterly when she managed to read the time on her alarm clock… 

"Three in the morning…" she thought sadly to herself, "… and no news from Rei…" 

At first she had sought to avoid coming to such a drastic thought, but the situation had now brought her to think even the worst…   
And if she had fallen into the wrong hands?.. if she had been kidnapped? Or if, instead… she had done something stupid?… What crossed her mind was too much for her to be able to come in any way to a definite answer. Moreover, she did not know much about Rei, therefore it was impossible to imagine what had happened in the girl's mind…   
The moments shortly before when Shinji had blamed himself for what had happened caused a bitter smile to appear on her face… "The only person to blame is me…" Unexpectedly, the Major noticed a tear run down her face…   
Yes, it was quite true. If there was one person to blame for all this, it was her. Up till then she had tried to understand and protect Asuka and Shinji, without taking the slightest care of all that was hidden behind the girl with the blue hair…   
She had never really spoken with her, nor had she ever tried to understand the reason for her evasive and unpleasant behaviour…   
There must have been an important motivation behind it… And she… she had simply ignored it…   
Under the weight of her guilt, the woman reached the point of being incapable of withstanding it. The pain she felt falling on her was too much and too heavy. Even for a woman who, at least to the outside world, must have turned thirty months ago. Years which inside her she very vaguely felt… 

In a sudden movement she got off the futon and after a brief reconciliation with herself stood up, casting a reluctant glance at the room with the complete disorder which reigned around her… "Perhaps Ritsuko was right…" the girl thought to herself shaking her head. 

Her thought remained in suspense until she reached the door, from where, before leaving, she cast another glance at the whole confusion around her…   
"… I can't even look at myself, let alone the Children …" 

She shut the door behind her leaving the room, but could not leave behind her the delusion which she had just inflicted on herself. Once again she had deluded herself with her own actions… 

She went softly to the kitchen and before she could think of anything, found herself again in front of the refrigerator. She was ashamed of herself, but alcohol was the only thing she could rely on in similar moments.   
The Major took her time to rest her hand on the handle of the fridge door. What sad thoughts crowded her mind when her hand fell on the first, cold can of beer which happened to be in front of her. She opened it quickly and began to drink it in one go, almost as if she wanted to flood the worries which weighed down on her heart.   
Sweep everything away with all her force. It was now a matter of routine. She had done this since she had come out of the aphasia. Solace in alcohol. Solace by a means that took possession of all the stupid people like her. They were looking for means of avoiding reality, at least for a few hours… 

Only somebody stupid would have reacted like this…   
Two tears fell right onto the floor, tears which very soon were followed by a third, then a fourth… 

Misato moved the can from her lips only when it was nearly completely empty. The tears, together with the alcohol, were already turning her big brown eyes red. But she had not even realised this. Very soon she would not realise anything else any more, at least for a couple of hours…   
She dropped the can on the floor, while her other hand was already ready to get another one from the refrigerator. Ready to stuff herself by filling her stomach with alcoholic drinks. How much longer would she be able to withstand this? 

No one would ever to know, but basically it did not really bother her too much any more…   


She had not succeeded in achieving her aims as she would have wanted, she had failed as an officer and this was a more than good reason for her to let her life lose value, or at least… this was what she wanted to have herself believe…   
Perhaps by a divine hand or perhaps by mere coincidence, an unexpected ringing of the telephone miraculously distracted her from those desperate gestures which she was about to make. Misato was already about to bring the second can of beer to her lips, but her attention was involuntarily attracted by the trill of the telephone, like a baby attracted by the sound of a music box…   
She had been expecting a telephone call for some hours… and if this was it?   
Impulsively the woman also dropped the second can of beer and almost colliding with the table, grabbed the speaker of the telephone receiver like a cat. "Hello!" 

Already from Misato's usual tone of voice, the caller understood the Major's state of mind and cutting short, decided to get to the heart of the matter, skipping introductions. 

"… they've found her, Misato!" 

Misato immediately recognised Ritsuko's voice over the telephone and already from those words the Major could see all the relief which they meant, a sign that everything had gone well… 

The woman's expression changed suddenly, first to surprise, then the confused expression on   


her face gradually changed to finally make room for a spontaneous and equally playful smile.   
"S… seriously?" Where is she now? What condition is she in?" she exclaimed into the   
speaker of the receiver with all the breath that she had in her lungs, almost deafening the other user. 

In fact, inside her personal office, Ritsuko sought to sympathise with her friend's behaviour, after all it was more than understandable. She smiled too. She had dreamt all night of giving Major Katsuragi news like this and now that she had been able to do so, she could not hold back her complete satisfaction. 

"Unfortunately, the news was sent to us a little while ago by one of the recovery teams which flew over the North-Eastern periphery of the city, so we don't know much more…", The scientist replied playing with the telephone cable. "Now we are waiting for the team's helicopter to return. We still do not know what condition she is in or even the reasons why this has happened…" she continued.   
  
At these words, Major Katsuragi was finally able to give a sigh of relief. She was very   
grateful to Ritsuko for having given her such happy news. Without realising it, the girl let   
herself slide onto the seat beside the table, relaxing the nerves which until then had not slowed down for even a single instant… 

"Well… the important thing is that she has been found after all, however we will think later, don't you think so?" 

The blonde scientist agreed with conviction. "Of course, now excuse me, I have to leave you now… it looks like the helicopter is about to land…"   
Misato understood her friend's reasons, after all at that moment a rather fervid atmosphere must prevail at the Nerv. "OK, we'll speak later, Ritsuko…", she replied, and then replaced the speaker of the telephone, finishing the conversation. 

"Just as well…" the girl calmed herself, while her face unusually allowed a faint smile to appear… She still felt the fresh taste of the last beer, but that telephone call had obviously succeeded in cancelling from her mind the last events connected with it…   
Slowly the girl arose from the table and went into her room, but not to go back to sleep, rather to get ready to go out, notwithstanding the unusual time. She was well aware of the treatment which Gendo reserved for Children who broke the Nerv's rules, and in view of her absence, the situation could change from one moment to another. She opened the cupboard and took out her Nerv uniform. She did not even need to put the light on to see it, as it was one of the few things which she made sure was well kept every day; perhaps because she knew that the sole reason for her existence was connected to that tunic which showed her rank of Major. 

After having put it on as well as she could, Misato ran towards the front door and left, forgetting almost completely that apart from her, there was also another person in the flat who needed explanations… 

--   
The helicopter of the eighteenth search team had landed on Nerv launch pad number three a few seconds ago. More than twenty soldiers were waiting for the soldiers to alight from the craft, even if now it was clear that for the soldiers the person whose disembarkation they were most waiting for was Rei Ayanami. The fugitive.   
Or at least, this was the term used by some members to describe her that evening while they spoke among themselves of the situation…   
The wind caused by the still revolving propellers ruffled the hair of Gendo Ikari, the only person still on the threshold of the large door which led to the launch pad. More than twenty metres separated him from the members gathered together as much as possible around the helicopter, but the supreme commander of the base did not seem to want to imitate them… 

Once again, it was impossible to determine what he was looking at because he wore the dark glasses which he did not fail to wear, even at night. But, notwithstanding everything, you could appreciate that this situation had definitely made him apprehensive…   
He slowly raised his head when he saw the head of the slim figure of Ayanami appear at the door of the helicopter. The darkness of night, together with the harsh atmosphere of the cold wind which unexpectedly affected it, seemed to be in harmony with the atmosphere of the moment… 

Rei was there. Immobile before the door of the helicopter, as if she wanted a moment of reconciliation. She was aware of the trouble she had created, but still she was aware too of what would happen now…   
And the worst for her was still to come… she knew it.   
She did not look at anybody. She held her head low as if she wanted to ignore all the looks of the people she sensed over her… 

The soldiers strangely agreed in silence to her pause before she alighted; but they evidently only granted her this favour because this situation was in their favour. Basically, finding Rei had been a real and proper treasure hunt for the recovery teams, and now they had the ideal excuse to show their "booty" with satisfaction to the other recovery teams standing below, who, contrary to them, had returned empty-handed to the base. 

However, there was one detail which everybody continued to ignore… or what they had found was not a tool … 

"Come on, get down!" The soldier on her right tired of this scene and with a sudden movement of the hand gave the girl a slight push forward. It was not a very hard push; one of those to make a person move forward; but it was just that gesture which proved once again to the girl with the blue hair the domination which the Nerv had over her. Obey without ever thinking. This was the rule, now… 

But until when would she manage to respect it?…   
She slowly descended the steps of the metal ladder of the helicopter. The two soldiers who seemed to have become almost one with her did not move away a single millimetre, not even on that occasion. 

Rei's face betrayed no emotion, as usual. Moreover, she was used to acting like this, but this time it was very, very hard. Why? Why could she no longer control her emotions? … was it possible that what she had discovered would be so decisive in her life?   
There were so many questions to which the girl with the blue hair could not find an answer alone…   
She let the soldiers take her with them without wasting the slightest time.   
Anyway, what could she have done to change her fate?… 

As she moved forward, the crowd which had gathered around the helicopter widened out to allow her to pass. The members remained completely in silence at first sight… or at least that was what they wanted people to believe beneath their thick blanket of almost imperceptible murmurs… 

Anyway, it was more than natural… her escape had not been planned by anybody. Not even her… 

The girl continued to keep her face lowered, like a prisoner during a journey into exile. But she was well aware what type of expression prevailed on the faces of all those present… 

She arrived before the entrance to the flight deck before she herself would have imagined. The two soldiers suddenly stopped and she could only imitate the gesture. Even if she had tried to escape she would not have got far with those big steel handcuffs around her wrists. 

Rei found the courage to take her gaze from the floor only when she noticed the presence of a certain person in front of her…   
Gendo Ikari… himself…   
Here she was again in front of him… face to face…   
The pale girl's heart speeded up when their eyes met…   
Notwithstanding the glasses, she had understood perfectly well the meaning of the commander's look, and for the first time felt a shiver run up her spine…   
Even the veil of murmurs suddenly stopped now. Everybody impatiently waited for the moment when the man would move his lips to utter the words he would say to Rei, but they never came, because instead of words, he let his look communicate with the eyes of the fugitive girl… 

With a slow movement of the hand, the man removed the dark glasses from his eyes so that this exchange of looks between him and Ayanami could be made properly. She did not pull back and returned the gesture by raising her head and staring at the man. The intense colour of her penetrating red eyes did not however hold Gendo's gaze for long. 

The sensation of being looked at inside her soul was disturbing for the girl with the red   
eyes… much more disturbing than she herself could ever imagine. 

She turned away with a gesture almost of annoyance and turned to lower her head and stare at the void of the floor…   
She should no longer look him in the face like before…   
Not after what she had done…   
Not after what HE had done…   
Being no longer able to stare into those innocent red eyes, the commander's gaze shifted to other things which so far he had ignored.   
He looked at the light school uniform which the girl was wearing. Like her face and her hair, this too was filthy from the dust and earth. He was already imagining where she had escaped. How silly she'd been… to escape among the countryside of the periphery without even leaving the city…   
He knew that she would not get far on her own. And in fact he was right… 

The girl did not even move for a second from the position in which she had remained. But Gendo easily understood that her hands, tied behind her by large steel handcuffs, had started to shake again… 

"All she's done is shake since we found her… it looks likes she's a bit cold…" said one of the two soldiers, realising where the man's eye's had come to rest. "Unfortunately, the helicopter did not have any blankets…", he continued.   
They spent another few seconds completely motionless. The only thing which was different between them was probably the wind, which did not allow itself to be influenced by the atmosphere which had been created and continued to blow at the scene. 

Finally Gendo interrupted the unpleasant blanket of silence and immobility, and slowly covered his eyes again with the dark glasses. 

"Bring her to my personal office… and remove those handcuffs…" he murmured in an authoritative and secure voice.   
Gendo's words caused an unconvinced look to appear on the faces of the two men flanking Ayanami. 

"What?" It was not his style to discuss a superior's order, but that evening the soldier on the girl's left side could not withhold his look of surprise. He immediately regretted it when the commander directed an icy glance at him, evidently awaiting an explanation. 

"Have you anything to add, Sergeant Nagaiki?" As usual the cold voice of the commander did not allow the slightest expression to appear. It seemed completely flat, as if it had been pronounced by something mechanical and this sensation was enough to make the soldier's subjection even greater. 

Sergeant Nagaiki tried not to show the moment of bewilderment in which he was caught, and clearing his voice tried to explain his reasons. "Ccco… commander Ikari, excuse the objection, but isn't Major Katsuragi responsible for the pilots? Before taking any action we would have to wait for her to arrive…" 

"Sergeant Nagaiki, I know perfectly well whose responsibility it is on the base. I would remind you that it was I who gave the job to Major Katsuragi. And as I gave it her, I myself can also take it from her any time I want…" The soldier felt goose pimples extending throughout his body at such a reply from Gendo. Very much regretting his action, the man hastily saluted, seeking to defuse the situation. 

"Aaa… at your orders, Sir!" 

The supreme head of the base completely ignored the man's gesture and turning on his heels went into the internal corridor of the base until he disappeared into the darkness.   
"Christ, Kakeru! Have you gone completely mad?", exclaimed the second soldier admonishing his colleague for his imprudence. "How could you dare to object to the Commander's words?" he continued.   
The soldier shrugged his shoulders : "I'm sorry… my fear overpowered me …", he replied in bewilderment while he released the girl from the handcuffs which prevented her from making any movement with her hands. 

The soldier sighed, putting the handcuffs taken from the First Children into one of the pockets of his camouflage jacket.. "Don't you know that such an insult could have had you demoted? You were lucky to have found him in such a magnanimous mood!"   
The man nodded: "Nevertheless, it still surprises me, Chiba…", he murmured in a low voice, starting to lead the girl along the corridor. "Why did the commander want to make this exception?" 

"But think about yourself, Kakeru! In some things it's better not to get involved… if the commander wanted something like that it means that there are good reasons fro doing it!"   
The two men's words, violent and invaluable, reached the ears of the girl they were leading … 

Rei's hands, now free, formed two clenched fists, trembling with two feelings which she herself was unacquainted with…   
Perhaps it was anger, perhaps fear, perhaps sadness… the fact was she could do nothing to avoid such a horrible feeling… 

A feeling which she had also experienced that last evening at home…   
Who knows how may times she would have to prove it again…   
Who knows if one day it would stop…   
The two men continued talking but their words now reached her ears as if pronounced in a foreign tongue. 

They seemed incomprehensible…   
Rei lifted her head, looking in front of her at the long corridor which appeared…   
She had failed. Her escape had failed.   
And that meant that it would happen again… perhaps … 

End of chapter three. 

****************************   
Well? What do you think about?^_^ I'm still working on the 4th chapter, so I don't think it will come fast as this one...sorry!;_;   
Anyway... 

~*~Many thanks to Ian for this translation, and many thanks to Jason Carter too for the corrections!^_^   
~*~Please, DO NOT FORGET TO REVIEW!!! You're reviews are really important for me! So, if you read this FF, please, would you sign a review for me?^_^   
~*~For comments critiques and everything else, this is my email address: reichan@inwind.it , or visit my website: http://members.tripod.it/aoitears   
Bye!^_^ 

Rei-chan   
  



	6. Chapter 4- Oyasumi Nasai, Rei...

Souls Conspiracy 

Chapter 4 

"Oyasumi nasai, Rei…" 

Loneliness: a feeling hard to stand for long.   
A feeling everybody tries to escape from. But in Rei Ayanamy's case, that feeling was basically an ennerving wait, similar to the one of someone in the death row waiting to be executed.   
Her eyes shone like two rubies in the dark of Gendo's office, She was there, sitting in the small leather couch, still covered by the plastic sheet. She was free to move, but had not budged at all since she'd been led to that room. Not a single whisper, not the slightest move... 

The only thing proving her presence inside the room was her light and almost labored breathing, except for that, around her the was only darkness and silence...   
Outside silence, of course, because inside herself, an avalanche of thoughts and memories was crowding her mind ceaselessly. Malicious thoughts, which what people thought about her notwithstanding, could somehow touch her and make her show those feelings that until a while ago she could keep hidden inside... 

She instinctively took her hands to her head, as if to stop the flow of all those memories, so painful... 

"N-no.." 

She uttered that word without realizing it... 

Everything was so weird, lately... but what was happening?? She felt so weak... a lot weaker than before...   
A crystal glass on the edge of a table, ready to fall at the first chance, breaking in a thousand pieces.   
Enough... she was tired of the silence... tired of the pain...   
She made herself even smaller,bracing her knees with her arms, and resting her head on them...   
She was shivering. Maybe because of the cold, maybe out of fear...   
Suddenly, a creaking noise broke the silence in the room. The door had been opened. 

This detail broke the girl's train of thought. She raised from her stance, taking her arms from her knees, and sat in a regular stance again.   
Instinctively, she raised her face, and looked at the man in front of her: Gendo Ikari. He'd made it, at last...   
The placid and grim silhouette of the captain perfectly matched the room's dark atmosphere.   
He came just a little beyond the door, while closing it behind himself with a hand, slamming it shut. Everything was so boring...   
Everything so terribly like the previous times... 

Rei's feelings, too, were the same as before. She perfectly knew what was awaiting for her now...   
All was needed were a few movements on her part... he'd take care of everything, as usual...   
The girl was staring at him. She almost couldn't take her eyes off of him. She had lived this moment many times before, but now that she'd understood, she wasn't able to consider it as a routine act anymore... 

Apparently, she had deserved a different 'punishment' for her escape...   
The man didn't budge from his initial stance. He kept his right hand in his pocket, the other was down at his side. His face was void of any kind of feeling. He was just looking at the young escapee...   
Seconds were flowing slow, like hours, and once again time seemed to stop in the moments of that exchange of looks...   
Suddenly, the things seemed to change... 

"Why..." Gendo's strong and relaxed voice quickly flowed through the room, breaking the wintry silence that was ruling at the time... "... why did you do a thing like that, Rei?..." 

He went on, this time without a pause. 

Rei didn't answer, but just sighed. She sighed deeply with labored breathing, while her hands nervously clasped the edges of her skirt, part of the school uniform she was still wearing.So,it was the silence that gave an answer to the man inher place. But apparently, Gendo didn't like this answer, so he frowned, and decided to repeat the question once again, in order to get a better answer. 

"Why?" 

Such a mechanical and monotonous voice was better suited to an Evangelion than to a human being, as Gendo, at least theoretically, was.   
Rei tried to concentrate for a few seconds. She couldn't help but answer to such a question."I don't... know...". 

Gendo didn't budge before the girl's answer. His silhouette appeared almost to blend with the darkness of such a black and cold space. Moonlight was seeping through the window, and that up to now had been the room's only source of light, but suddenly was taken out by the passing of a few wandering night clouds, and this detail seemed to go well with the moment's atmosphere, increasing this way the fear the First Children was feeling. 

"Why... are you doing this to me, Yui?..." The captain's voice didn't change from what it was before, but this time his words sounded extremely alarming in Rei's soul, who once again felt shivers running along her body, and her heart beating again ay one hundred miles per hour. 

"I'm... I'm not Yui..." Ayanami remained calm. Even if hers was, as usual, a calm that was forced.   
She seldom resisted to the captain Ikari's words. Even though, of course, she perfectly knew that her saying yes or no wouldn't change a thing. She'd had proof of that several times... 

And she was right. Those words counted as nothing to Gendo, who, raising as usual his glasses on his nose, once again repeated his question 

"You fled once, Yui... I won't allow it to happen again.." 

"I'm not Yui!!!" Rei suddenly raised her head toward Gendo, while he was uttering those words.   
In raising her voice, two tears dropped involuntarily from her eyes, tears of rage, of course. Rage that was little by little finding its way out. The little girl braced herself again, almost frightened by her unexpected reaction. What the hell was happening to her? What was the trembling she felt? What was that thing in her troath that wouldn't go down? What had moved her to reply in that wy to Captain Ikari's words? The one who until a while ago was able to manipulate her like a puppet, without the slightest resistance on her part?... Was it fear, maybe? But fear of what?... Why?... 

Rei quit her thoughts when she suddenly began to hear the slow and heavy step of the commander, getting closer and closer to her. She instintively raised her eyes to see what was going on, but she had no time to evaluate the situation, when she suddenly felt a strong grip around her shoulders, while the captain, with his free hand took a damp cloth handkerchief from hi pocket, and forcibly pressed it on her face. Rei had barely time to notice the unusual smell, but it was too late already. Cloroformium had already begun to have its effect on her... 

She didn't say a word, while her vision was offuscating at an impressive speed, and her muscles seemed suddenly paralyzed. Simply, she moved her gaze on the one who was doing it all, i.e., commander Ikari... 

Her eyes crossed his once again... and they seemed distant, too distant...   
I a few seconds, the room seemed like beginning to spin around her quickly, until her gaze became white and her eyelids closed, denying her the capability of seeing beyond them... 

To help her from falling, once again the strong grip of Gendo Ikari, who quickly took in his arms her helpless body, with great and unexpected dexterity. He slowly laid the girl's willowy body on the sofa where she'd been sitting.   
He was looking at her. He was beholding the face, that was senseless, but still showed a look almost of pain, different from her usual...   
Slowly, Gendo's right hand almost touched the pale and sad face, while his mind took him back in time... far, far away...   
Years a long time past, and that will never come back again... he perfectly knew...but he'd never be able again to accept a situation like that...   
He moved his hand on the girl's face, slowly stroking her cheeks, while his gaze, beyonf the dark glasses, became full of melancholy. 

"Yui.chan...." the man whispered again, remembering his beloved dead wife... "You weren't able to forgive me, right?"   
The blue-haired girl was under the influence of cloroformium, but a crystal tear came out of her wet eyes, slowly crossing her face, to fall, at last, on the white gloved fingers of Captain Ikari.... 

Gendo took his hand away from the girl's face, and began staring at the small stain keft by Rei's tear. She was crying again...   
He turned again his gaze on the senseless, innocent creature. She was so helpless...   
He leaned forward, this time taking the girl's face into both of his hands. 

"It will never happen again, Yui...". He whispered. Slowly, his face got closer and closer to the First Children's,slowly and without realizing it, the commander left this force guide him, so, almost n no time, the man's lips had almost reached their final destination: the blue-haired girl's lips. He close his eyes, too, already thinking of the moment in which he would have touched those pink lips, so similar to Yui's... 

"CAPTAIN IKARI!!!" 

This sudden cry, together with the thud of the door,slammed open, put an end to Gendo's ambiguous plans. Someone had entered the room. The man quickly moved away from the girl's face, trying to recompose his attitude in the shortest time possible, to prevent the one who'd come in to suspect the slightest thing... or maybe saying "the woman" would be more correct...   
The captain lhad a look from head to toe of the crow-blach haired woman, who was slowly retaking her breath, leaning on the door's handle. "What's the matter, Major Katsuragi?..." Commander Ikari asked, obstentating utter indifference.   
Actually, the man's fast movements, when he entered the room, cause a puzzled expression to appear on Misato's face. The ided that they were just the fastest way to hide something from her eyes flashed in her mind... 

But she had no time to think it over, when she suddenly recalled the reason of her presence there. And to bring it back to her mind, it was exactly viewing the Firp Children asleep on the sofa next to the Commander.... 

"…Rei…" She whispered with a barely audible voice. She raised her gaze toward the commander, and her face took a commanding look. "Commander Ikari, I'm sorry to be late. I was here to..." 

"I can perfectly imagine the reason of your presence here, Major Katsuragi..." Gendo Ikari stopped like that the girl's words, slowly approaching her, 

"We better move somewhere else to talk, Major. For now, quiet is the only thing she needs..." The man turned his face towards the interior of the room where Rei was asleep, and from this gesture, the girl understood whom he was talking about. 

Misato went back to look at the commander, and nodded, while she slowly walked toward the exit. Gendo did the same, but before closing the door after him, he wanted to have a last look at the little girl who was laying on the sofa. 

"Oyasumi Nasai, Rei…(*) " 

The first noise to reach Gendo Ikari's ears while he closed the door after him was the sole of the major's lleft boot, that she was nervously stomping on the floor, a clear sign that her patience was running out... 

The girl's face had a look of incredible determination and caparbiety. It's well known that when Misato got an idea into her head, making her change her mind would have been a hard task for everybody, but this time instead, to make her change her mind would have been virtually impossible...   
Misato cleared her troath, taking on an expression that was even more professional. 

"Commander Ikari..." she cried out, the first to talk "I came asap. Sorry again to be late..." 

"Never mind, Major Katsuragi, what matters is that you made it..." commander Ikari uttered those predictable words, as if he wasn't aware of what he was really saying. Those sentences were to be considered "customary", and so were the answers... 

"Thanks for your sympathy" the woman answered, in a soldierly tone. In a different situation, she would have even cared to say something more subtle, but that day she decided against further delay, and came to the point. There was little time to lose... 

"Commander, I'd like to be informed regarding the facts..." the Major whispered, crossing her arms "What are the reasons behind such behavior on Rei's part?"   
Misato's question called for an answer. And Gendo couldn't possibly dodge it... 

"At the moment when she came back to the base, the girl was totally deprived of energy, as you have certainly noticed, now she's resting..." Ikari answered, expressionless, not letting his inner fears to influence him... 

Of course, having being caught red-handed with the little girl didn't look good for him, but he'd been able to get himself out of a tight spot before. He could make it play on his behalf only to a point, because it would have been hard for him to predict the smart Major's moves. And he knew that Misato wouldn't have beencontented with a short answer... 

Misato sighed "I understand. In what condition is she in?" The woman asked immediately, trying to look even more expressionless than the man.   
At the woman's latest words, something in Gendo changed. But only internally, because his outside was, of course, wrapped by a shell that deprived him of all human feelings... 

The answer didn't come out of the commander's lips as easily as one could have usually imagined, but nonetheless, the young Major didn't show any sign of relenting. She really was good at her job. Gendo had to admit this... 

For Misato, it was just not possible to understand the reason ot the long pause, neither could he grasp the thousands thoughts that were swirling in the commander's mind during that pause of reflection, anyway, an answer will come... 

"Not defined. At the moment, her condition is not defined" Gendo utetred those words almost as if he wanted to make them as much evasive and short as possible. 

Misato's face suddenly went from resolution to utter perplexity. 

"Not... defined?" 

Almost pretending not to have heard the girl's last words, Gendo Ikari turned instinctively toward the lobby, turning his back on the perplexed major. 

"Now, if you don't mind, I'm busy..." the man tried in this way toand his conversation with Katsuragi, while he distarctedly moved the first steps along the lobby that would have led him in little time to other places in the base... 

"W-WHAT DO YOU MEAN, NOT DEFINED!?!!?" Misato's sudden scream echoed along the metallic lobby. She couldn't believe her ears. She perfectly knew that the slightest anomaly in one of the pilots would have the whole medical staff of the base running, and now the base's commander himself wanted her to believe that he hadn't yet verified the status of a Children involved in a night escape ?? 

Heaing that call, Gendo Ikari slowly stopped walking. 

"Major Katsuragi..." he whispered. The man didn't even turn around when he heard Misato's quick and resolute step approaching him from behind. His fears had, apparently, a foundation. Major Katsuragi wouldn't have been satisfied by a curt reply... 

"Commamder, do you have at least the faintest idea of what happened to Rei!?!?" the woman said in a really angry tone. "That girl didn't spend the whole night at a fun fair!Rei's been who know where without the knoledge of any of us! And don't you think it a good reason to have the girl seen??? She could have been injured, or even have a brok...". 

Misato couldn't end her sentence, because before she knew, Gendo Ikari got tired of listening from behind his back to the reproachful speech the gilr was giving him... 

"That's enough, Major Katsuragi! I have no intention of talking this over with you, neither you have any right to talk to me in this tone, questioning my will..." In front of such words, Misato couldn't help closing her fists and teeth, and stay silent before a superior's will. It was true, actually, she had no right to get such information, insiede of this organization... 

But, yet another time, the young major put his military rank away, and trying with visible effort to speak with a soft voice to assuage him, she talked again to the man. 

"I'm sorry, Commander Ikari. I had no intention to discuss a direct order, But... are you really sure about your decision?..."   
Gendo Ikari turned his face again, preparing himself to give her one of his cold and brief answers. 

"More than sure..." he whispered with a strong and authoritative voice. Ignoring the Mayor's look of satisfaction, the commander went back on his way, slowly walking along the lobby with a brisk but unhurried step... 

Who knows whether he was really so calm inside, too... 

Misato, now more than ever, felt the urge to punch him for the way he'd just treated her, but onc again she had to suppress her rage, and sighing she entered the same metallic lobby, but in the opposite direction from Gendo's.... 

Apparently, everything always looked fine and dandy, just fluid as oil, or maybe as tears, tears that inconsciously kept flowing on Rei's pale cheeks, while she was enveloped in the darkness of the room.   
Alone...   
It was just a matter of time, but it was going to happen, she could feel it.. 

*~*~* 

-7.30 AM- Misato's flat: 

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" 

As much as Shinji was concerned, that hadn't been the best wake-up of his life. He'd been able to ignore the clock's relentless ricking, and the really ennerving sunrays that got thru the blinds, but he surely couldn't ignore for much longer the strange feathered and quacking animal that had been jumping all over him for some minutes! 

"QUEAAAAAACK!! QUEAAAAAAAACK!! QUEEEEAAAAAAAACKKKKKKK!!!!!!!" This was the voice of the happy penguin while, not in the least afraid of Shinji's cry, kept jumping up and down, satisfied of his actions. 

Likely, it was sleep that had caused him to react in such an excessive fashion, but Shinchan found himself suddenly like paralyzed from fear in a corner of his bed, the farthermost corner from the noisy animal, slowly catching his breath. 

"P…Pen-Pen…WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?!" The angry boy cried out, while he was slowly regaining his composure, after the scare.   
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" The angry boy cried out, while he was slowly recovering from the fright. In the face of those reproaching words, and 

Shinji's threatening look, the penguin immediately stopped jumping up and down, taking on a look not so different from the boy's. 

"Gggggggg QUEACK!!!!!" Before Shinji could do anything, the strong beak of the unusual pet caught his pj's leg, forcefully taking the poor boy down from his bed. 

"OK, OK, Pen Pen! I got it, I'm raising" The Third Children said, humoring the penguin, and coming down from his bed, still sleepy. That was weird. Usually, PenPen acted like that in the morning with his original little mistress, why was hedoing that to him today?   
The boy smiled, while he slowly bent to take the noisy animal in his arms- 

"I really can't get used to have such a strange animal like you around!" He joyfully said, on his way to the kitchen.   
The kitchen... 

It was the sight of that room that reminded Shinji, still sleepy, the latest important things happend the night before, and that involved him... 

"Ayanami..." Rei's last name crossed Shinji's mind when the boy's eyes fell on Misato's cordless phone, still on the table since last night. 

Ayanami, the blue haired girl. Apparently, she'd been once again in the center of everybody's attention, at Nerv.... 

Her, who every day mechanically obeyed every order they gave her, had disappeared.   
Completely disappeared,leaving no trace... 

*What's the matter, Ayanami?... maybe you were too pure to keep on living in such a corrupt world?...* He didn't know how he could have such a deep thought in the early morning, but that was enough to make Shinji realize that he'd better hurry and wash his face really fast!   
To take the boy down to earth, once again the unavoidable fury of the penguin in his arms. 

"Queack! Queack!" went the angry animal.   
Shinji abruptly came off his thoughts, and once again took his gaze on the hurried feathered animal. "Yes, PenPen, I got it! Now I'm gonna make you breakfast, are you happy with that?" The boy said, humoring his little friend and approaching the refridgerator containing its food.   
Approaching the fridge, the boy couldn't help noticing two empty beer cans laying on the floor, drank by Misato a few hours earlier, before getting Ritsuko's phone call, of which he was completely unaware...   
The boy kept staring atthw two cans, trying to figure out when they's been drank.   
Then, after a short internal reflection, he shook his head. 

*Apparently, Misato san has already had breakfast...* he thought, bending to get the cans and dumping them in the bin. PenPen was looking at the boy with a puzzled stare, probably he didn't understand what he was saying, but weren't he a penguin, he really would have wanted to explain the truth. How Misato was in deep dispair, how she'd been drinking too much beer, and how just a phone call had been able to restore a little of the hope that she seemed to have forgotten...   
PenPen relinquished any malicious thought when the Third Children bent to offer him his bowl full to the brim of fish, the best breakfast a penguin could wish for! 

"Enjoy your meal, PenPen!^_^" The boy said smiling. The penguin didn't wait to be told again, and threw himself on the bowl, wolfing down the fish, that soon was reduced to half .   
Shinji was staring at him, amused, llooking at PenPen eating was always funny.   
Shinj set the usual beer can down on the floor for PenPen "I keep saying you and Misato are a beautiful couple!..." he said, while he realized that, after all, the way Major Katsuragi ate wasn't so different from the one of his pet!   
Ikari-kun let the penguin wolf down his breakfast, while he slowly began to move toward the table, checking his cordless phone for any missed call, with a result that didn't make him happy. No missed call. That was the verdict. The boy sighed heavily. He'd hoped at least to find some missed call that would have given him something to hope for, but this wish of him wasn't fulfilled... 

Shinji shook his head while putting the cordless back on the table. All that had happend the night before now just seemed like a dream. Nothing more. Usually, he was able to hide into his dreams, escaping from reality, but now he really couldn't...   
n ci riusciva…   
Rei Ayanami. 

The moment she had regained consciousness in his arms, for a while she'd seemed different.   
Different from the typical misterious girl he almost couldn't believe had any emotion. She'd looked helpless to him. Yes. Her, who prepared for battles against the Angels with the same calm of someone going to the bar for an appetizer, she'd looked frail, helpless, and, above all, defenseless...   
Her face wasn't expressionless as usual, but looked really frightened... 

*You were afraid... and you fled* the boy thought, while he put his lunch inside the satchel. 

*... After all, we're not so different...*   
The boy was so deeply thinking about Rei's escape that he almost didn't realize how much time had really passed...   
He got back his sense of time only when the bird on Misato's cuckoo clock came back from his little wooden door, and chirped signalling 8:00 AM 

"OH MY!!"! IT'S SO LATE!!!" The boy screamed, taking his hands to his face, in a shock. His school was a little far from the flat he shared with his minder, and this was what had him worried. The idea of spending all morning outside the classroom with two buckets of water in his hands wasn't appealing at all, and that was why he had to hurry, and try not to be even later than he already was!   
At the speed of light, Shinji ran into the bathroom, and immediately after, still wet, fled toward his room, wearing his school uniform in a slovenly way. 

"Oh shit!!!" he cried out, when, while he was tying the shoestrings on his sneakers, one broke, leaving him with half of it in his hand... ^^; 

'More haste, less speed…'   
As never before, the saying was really fit for what was happening to him... 

"Hell, I'll never make it on time!!" Quickly, the boy tried to fix his shoe, and when he solved that problem, thanks to the Lord who'd taken pity on him, before who knows what else could happen to him, he jumped into the lobby of his house, that was the starting line of his marathon to the school.   
Before he could make it to the dorr, Shinji, without breaking his stride, knocked a couple of times on the shoji(**) of his minder's door, and then flew towards teh door: 

Miss Misato, it's late! I'm going to school!! Try and not be late, you too!!"   
He shouted, before closing the flat's door behind him. 

As soon as he was out of the flat, the boy instinctively looked at the flight of stairs below him, and jumped on it, doing four steps at a time. He would usually have taken the lift, but he was such in a hurry that morning that waiting for the lift to get to his floor would have been to much for him to endure!   
And then, using his legs in the early morning wouldn't have hurted him! Even if he kept saying and repeating that that wasn't for sure the happiest day in his life...   
Who knows why, but every time he needed Misato's help, she wasn't there... 

"All she does is sleeping, eating and drinking... the only differences between a bay and Misato san is the shape!" He mumbled to himself with a shade of irony. Touji's influence was getting a hold on him, little by little... 

Even if, actually, he would have spoken differently if only he'd known that today, Major Katsuragi's room was empty... 

*~*~*   
First Grammar School of NeoTokyo-3   
-8.30 AM- 

Sigh…he'd better ask for a nice bicycle as a present from Miss Misato, at the next festivity.   
At least, in such moments he would have spared himself this ordeal...   
After thirty minutes, Shinji passed the threshold of classroom 3 A, completely exhausted...   
All along the road, he'd had the feeling that his heart was about to explode anu moment, and he really couldn't explain how he had made it to the school safe.... 

*Aaah... the japanese student's life is so hard!...* 

"Ikari-kun, you're lucky! Professor Mokuboshi is not here today, and the substitute hasn't arrived yet..."   
Seeing the smile on the face of Horaki, the small but authoritarian leader of the class, and her kind words, would have been of great solace to Shinji in such a moment, Professor Mokuboshi had punished many times pupils for being late, and today he'd been afraid he'd have to stand outside the door holding two buckets filled with water all morning, but when he had a look at th ewhole class, his mind was completely dazed. 

*Am I dreaming, or am I awake?! * He thought, without deleting from his face the shocked look, wiping his eyes to understand whether he was witnessing an optical illusion, of whether it was the reality, incredible as it seemed.   
Everything. He could have expected everything. But not to find Rei Ayanamy, the blue-haired girl, the fugitive. Sitting at her place while she was mentally repeating a page on her history textbook...   
So placidly... 

"Ayanami...Shinji's lips uttered those words almost with fear. He was afraid that, had he pronounced them aloud, the image in fornt of him would have vanished...   
But it was still there... 

That call, so soft, quickly disappeared in the emptyness, but not before it had reached it's destination...   
The blue-haired girl raised her face, and turned her attention toward Shinji, with the same look of the day before.   
The same...   
There was no doubt about it. It was her. And it hadn't been a dream...   


End of Chapter 4 

·~* "Oyasumi Nasai" it's the japanese way to say Good night to someone ^_^;   
· ** "Shoji" is the panel on japanese doors (the sliding ones) 

***********Author's note******** 

Wow! I just can't believe that this chapter's finally out! I really hope you like it!:) I know, it hasn't been fixed since it has been translated by my friend Marcello Clarizia (don't forget to thanks with him!) so, I really HOPE THAT THERE IS A GOOD SOUL WHO CAN FIX IT FOR ME. I know, but my friend did his best to translate it, but what do you want? We're both italian and we can't speak english like a native american;_;   
Anyway, if you wanna help me, this is my address:) reichan@inwind.it   
And, as always, DO NOT FORGET TO REVIEW!!!!!!!!!   



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